The French have done it!

[Mailman]

We did all that upto and including 03 (not the full 4 years mind), won the bloody trophy and still got slagged off by all and sundry.

You are English...you expect us to hate you...dont you?

Besides...apart from the grumbling I think you will find that a lot of us in the Southern Hemisphere actually...bedrugdingly...respected the English team for travelling away from home and winning in NZ and Australia.

Tell you what though, England gets a hell of a lot more respect from the yocal locals in NZ than the AB's ever get when they come to play in England...for starters we dont have ever racist and their blind guide dog out calling for the axing of the Haka (tradition...what is that!). Then again I cant remember the last time some footage of of Shaw just happened to be aired during a English tour either?

Ah feck it, at the end of the day we just hate you cause you is [insert what ever colour you see fit!]

Mailman

[sasguru]

Your English...you expect us to hate you...dont you?

Mailman

Do you expect a mosquito to hate you? Or a fly?
So the answer is no.

[Mailman]

Dont get out often do you guru!



Mailman

[daviejones]

Do you expect a mosquito to hate you? Or a fly?
So the answer is no.

Are you a tit all the time or are you gonna take a day off? Why not do it today?

[DodgyAgent]

Oh dear

Dear Kiwi "friends" tay and mailman.

You need to learn the lesson of humility, to take defeat on the chin. Instead you are trying to make a purse out of a sow's ear and you are not doing it very well (especially you mailman). By rising to our bait you are coming across as insecure and small minded; no sense of objectivity, no sense of pride, or acknowledgement that you are not as great as you made yourselves out to be.

You whinge about sides not sending their strongest teams out for example, but that is all part of the jigsaw and the fun of the game.

Maybe you should take a leaf out of the books of some of your all time greats such as David Campese, who is now eating humble pie along with that other "great" Zinzan Brook:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mai.../srzinz109.xml

The english rugby fan can give out but we can also take it. Our amateur ethos means that to us winning is not everything. Most of my Aussie mates to their credit have either switched their mobile phones off or simply said "well done the poms" in response to extensive baiting. By simply saying well done there is no further to go with the baiting, it is pointless and counterproductive. Mailman on the other hand is trying to fight a rearguard action and in so doing is simply inviting more and more ridicule. I also know that it will not be long before the aussies/kiwis get their revenge, and we English will ourselves need to eat humble pie. We can deal with that.

You kiwis were over hyped and overrated and you can whine all you like. To every one else in the world you were beaten, well and truly. Live with it, Zinzan does, my good kiwi mate ignores my rambling and so should you.

[DodgyAgent]

This is a stupid ignorant bigotted article.. I shall disect it for you.



Sorry please show me anywhere where NZ has claimed ot be the greatest rugby side on Earth, we are ranked number 1 and have been for 3 years, we have a won over 90%v of our matches in the last 4 years, including a grand slam, whitewash of the Lions, 3 Tri Nations Titakles, and 4 Bledisloe cup, some would argue that beating all comers does actually make you the best. So up until the cup, they probably could have claimed to to be the greatest team on earth.. who was better? Thats chaging now obviously, but it doesnt mean post dominance was irrelevant. But even if we statiscally and results wise were the best, they still havent said it. The AB side has been very very modest.




Only professional team? Nonsense. The AB's had no full time rugby players, this is an outright lie.



Vitriolic nonsense. Where is this arrogance demonstrated? He is confusing what others wnat the AB to act like so they are easier to dislike.



Lecture and preach? When have they done that?



Like England sent a understrength teamto to SA this year? Or how SA left out 22 of its best players for the away leg of the 3N? Or how France sent a weak team to NZ over the summer? All teams messed with things towards the goal of the WC. NZ did it in a dnoestic comp instead of test matches.




Get a grip son. The INDEPENDENT citing commisioner found there was no case to answer. Get over it and move on. Maimed? Dont be so emotive.







Oh dear oh dear. The reason NZ doesnt play in the Pacific Islands is because NZ has the largest population of pacific Islanders in the world. The unions of these countries request to play in NZ as they get bigger crowds than they can fit in thier stadiums, ALL proceeds go to the PI union and NZ lends out facilites for free, the PI win from this deal and get a financial windfall as well as full ground of supporters. This arrangement is at the request of the PI nations. NZ dfoes have a yearly competion with PI teams, but its the NZ A side and they played in Apia and Suva this year. They soundly beat both teams but provided great preparation for the PI sides. They also ignored the IRB ruling that hosts have to pay the costs of the visitors and funded the entire trip themselves.

As for raiding of players... lets have a look at sime FACTS

NZ has these foriegn born players at the WC (8)


We have 27 NZ born players playing for other countries.

Importers

1. Italy - 15
2. Samoa - 14
3. USA - 12
4. Scotland - 10
5. New Zealand - 8
6. Australia, Wales - 7
8. Japan - 6
9. England, France, Ireland, Namibia - 4
13. Canada, Portugal - 3
15. Argentina, Fiji, South Africa, Tonga - 1
19. Georgia, Romania - 0

Exporters:

1. New Zealand - 27
2. South Africa - 16
3. England - 13
4. Argentina, Tonga - 8
6. Fiji, Samoa - 5
8. Australia, France - 3
10. Canada, Zambia, Zimbabwe - 2
13. Belgium, Brazil, Cameroun, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Saudi Arabia, USA - 1

Of the countries at the 2007 World Cup the following have no exports - Georgia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Namibia, Portugal, Scotland and Wales






So you say the "the Tri-Nations is inherently more athletic and skilful".. we dont. But then you accuse us of being arrogant? Thats like telling someone they are smart.. and then having a go at them for being arrogant.


I am not surprised so many of you guys are ignorant about rugby if this is the quality of the journalism you believe.

You still lost

[wendigo100]

Get a grip son. The INDEPENDENT citing commisioner found there was no case to answer.

Yep, it looked a fair enough spear-tackle to me. I blamed O'Driscoll for getting his neck out of the way and breaking his shoulder instead.

[sasguru]

Are you a tit all the time or are you gonna take a day off? Why not do it today?

I try to feel a tit as often as I can.

[Churchill]

I try to feel a tit as often as I can.

I've told you before, wanking will make you blind!

[The Lone Gunman]

Is this relevant to this debate?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7036994.stm